Best Movies of 20th Century 1st Half by Rank
2719
750
1939
John English, William Witney
Reed Hadley, Sheila Darcy, William Corson, Leander De Cordova, Edmund Cobb
Western / Adventure / Action / Cult / Serial / Family
USA
English
2721
751
1932
Clarence Brown
Marie Dressler, Richard Cromwell, Jean Hersholt, Myrna Loy, John Miljan
Comedy / Drama / Romance
USA
English
2721
751
1922
Sidney Franklin
Norma Talmadge, Wyndham Standing, Harrison Ford, Alec B. Francis, Glenn Hunter
Drama
USA
English (Silent)
2721
751
1926
Cecil B. DeMille
William Boyd, Elinor Fair, Robert Edeson, Victor Varconi, Julia Faye
Drama / Romance
USA
English (Silent)
2721
751
1930
unknown
Richard E. Byrd, Clair D. Alexander, Bernt Balchen, George H. Black
Documentary / Adventure / Biography / History
USA
English
2726
752
1929
Raoul Walsh
Victor McLaglen, Edmund Lowe, Lili Damita, Leila Karnelly, El Brendel
Comedy / Musical
USA
English
2730
753
1932
John M. Stahl
Irene Dunne, John Boles, June Clyde, George Meeker, Zasu Pitts
Drama / Romance
USA
English
2730
753
1922
Elmer Clifton
Marguerite Courtot, Raymond McKee, William Walcott, Clara Bow, James Turfler
Drama / Romance / Adventure
USA
English (Silent)
2730
753
1929
Sidney Franklin
Norma Shearer, Basil Rathbone, George Barraud, Herbert Bunston, Hedda Hopper
Comedy / Drama
USA
English
2730
753
1927
Edwin Carewe
Rod La Rocque, Dolores del Rio, Rita Carewe, Marc McDermott, Lucy Beaumont
Drama / Romance
USA
English (Silent)
2730
753
1926
Millard Webb
John Barrymore, Dolores Costello, George O'Hara, Mike Donlin, Sam Baker
Action / Adventure / Fantasy / Romance / Drama
USA
English (Silent)
2730
753
1944
Cecil B. DeMille
Gary Cooper, Laraine Day, Signe Hasso, Dennis O'Keefe, Carol Thurston
Drama / Action / Adventure / Romance / War / Biography
USA
English
2733
754
1942
Humphrey Jennings, Stewart McAllister
Chesney Allen, Bud Flanagan, Leonard Brockington, Myra Hess
Documentary / Short / War
UK
English
2735
755
1924
D.W. Griffith
Neil Hamilton, Erville Alderson, Carol Dempster, Charles Emmett Mack, Lee Beggs
Drama / History / War / Romance / Adventure / Epic
USA
English (Silent)
2735
755
1925
Ernst Lubitsch
Marie Prevost, Monte Blue, John Roche, Clara Bow, Willard Louis
Comedy / Romance
USA
English (Silent)
2735
755
1930
Alfred E. Green
George Arliss, Doris Lloyd, Harrington Reynolds, Reginald Sheffield, Betty Lawford
Drama
USA
English
2735
755
1922
Frank Lloyd
Jackie Coogan, Lon Chaney, James A. Marcus, Aggie Herring, Lewis Sargent
Drama
USA
English (Silent)
2737
756
1949
Georges Franju
Georges Hubert, Nicole Ladmiral
Documentary / Short / Drama
France
French
2740
757
1929
Grigori Kozintsev, Leonid Trauberg
David Gutman, Yelena Kuzmina, Andrei Kostrichkin, Sofya Magarill
Drama / Period Film
Soviet Union
Russian (Silent)
2742
758
1934
Ray Enright, Busby Berkeley
Joan Blondell, Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Zasu Pitts, Guy Kibbee, Hugh Herbert
Comedy / Musical / Romance
USA
English
2742
758
1945
Otto Preminger
Alice Faye, Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell, Charles Bickford, Anne Revere
Film-Noir / Mystery / Drama / Crime / Detective
USA
English
2747
759
1932
Jean Renoir
Pierre Renoir, Georges Térof, Winna Winifried
Crime / Mystery / Detective / Drama
France
French
2747
759
1928
Marcel L'Herbier
Brigitte Helm, Henry Victor, Alfred Abel, Antonin Artaud
Drama
France
French (Silent)
2751
760
1935
Aleksandr Dovzhenko
Stepan Shagaida, Sergei Stolyarov, Yevgeniya Melnikova
Sci-Fi / Drama
Soviet Union
Russian
2751
760
1934
Marcel Pagnol
Orane Demazis, Fernandel, Henri Poupon, Jean Servais
Drama / Romance
France
French
2751
760
1948
Cy Endfield
William Gargan, Marjorie Lord, John Banner, Peter Brocco
Drama / Mystery / Romance / Thriller
USA
English
2751
760
1914
D.W. Griffith
Henry B. Walthall, Spottiswoode Aitken, Blanche Sweet
Drama / Horror / Crime
USA
English (Silent)
2751
760
1924
Fernand Léger, Dudley Murphy
Kiki of Montparnasse
Short / Experimental
France
French (Silent)
2751
760
1919
Louis Feuillade
Blanche Montel, Fernand Herrmann, Edouard Mathé
Comedy / Drama
France
French (Silent)
2751
760
1944
William Castle
Dean Jagger, Kim Hunter, Robert Mitchum, Neil Hamilton
Film-Noir / Mystery / Thriller / Detective / Romance
USA
English
2751
760
1931
Roy Del Ruth
James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Louis Calhern, Noel Francis
Comedy / Drama / Crime / Romance / Gangster
USA
English
2751
760
1941
Yasujiro Ozu
Tatsuo Saito, Shin Saburi, Takeshi Sakamoto, Mitsuko Yoshikawa
Drama
Japan
Japanese
2751
760
1915
Charles Chaplin
Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Jack Henderson, Leo White
Short / Comedy
USA
English (Silent)
2751
760
1926
Lev Kuleshov
Alexandra Khokhlova, Sergei Komarov, Vladimir Fogel
Drama / Crime
Soviet Union
Russian (Silent)
2751
760
1927
Jean Renoir
Catherine Hessling, Pierre Braunberger, Johnny Huggins
Short / Comedy / Drama / Musical
France
French (Silent)
2751
760
1925
Vsevolod Pudovkin, Nikolai Shpikovsky
Vladimir Fogel, Anatoly Ktorov, Anna Zemtsova, Yuliy Rayzman
Comedy / Short
Soviet Union
Russian (Silent)
2751
760
1929
Cecil B. DeMille
Kay Johnson, Charles Bickford, Conrad Nagel, Julia Faye
Drama
USA
English
2751
760
1926
Howard Hawks
George O'Brien, Olive Borden, Phyllis Haver, George Beranger
Comedy
USA
English (Silent)
2751
760
1946
John Berry
Joan Fontaine, Mark Stevens, Rosemary DeCamp, Harry Morgan
Drama / Romance
USA
English
2751
760
1948
Leo McCarey
Gary Cooper, Ann Sheridan, Ray Collins, Edmund Lowe
Comedy / Drama
USA
English
2751
760
1933
Mervyn LeRoy
James Cagney, Mary Brian, Allen Jenkins, Ruth Donnelly
Comedy / Romance
USA
English
2751
760
1948
Yasujiro Ozu
Kinuyo Tanaka, Shuji Sano, Chieko Murata, Chishu Ryu
Drama
Japan
Japanese
2751
760
1930
Tay Garnett
Helen Twelvetrees, Phillips Holmes, Marjorie Rambeau, James Gleason
Drama / Romance / Crime
USA
English
2751
760
1927
Jean Epstein
Olga Day, Suzy Pierson, René Ferté
Drama / Experimental
France
French (Silent)
2751
760
1928
Jean Renoir, Jean Tédesco
Catherine Hessling, Amy Wells, Jean Storm, Manuel Raaby
Short / Drama
France
French (Silent)
2751
760
1944
Jean Grémillon
Madeleine Renaud, Charles Vanel, Anne Vandène
Drama / Biography
France
French
2751
760
1928
Clyde Bruckman
Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charlie Hall, Edgar Kennedy
Comedy / Short / Family
USA
English (Silent)
2751
760
1947
Jacques Tati
Jacques Tati, Paul Demange
Short / Comedy
France
French
2751
760
1913
Léonce Perret
Léonce Perret, Louis Leubas, Maurice Lagrenée
Drama
France
French (Silent)
2751
760
1924
Marcel L'Herbier
Georgette Leblanc, Jaque Catelain, Léonid Walter de Malte
Adventure / Drama
France
French (Silent)
2751
760
1949
Tex Avery
Daws Butler, Colleen Collins, Pinto Colvig
Animation / Comedy / Short
USA
English
2751
760
1932
Ernst Lubitsch
Lionel Barrymore, Nancy Carroll, Phillips Holmes, Louise Carter
Drama / Romance / War
USA
English
2751
760
1947
Raoul Walsh
Ida Lupino, Robert Alda, Andrea King, Bruce Bennett, Martha Vickers
Drama / Film-Noir / Crime / Gangster / Music
USA
English
2751
760
1932
Pál Fejös
Annabella, Ilona Dajbukát, Germaine Aussey
Drama
France / Germany
French
2751
760
1948
Frank Borzage
Dane Clark, Gail Russell, Ethel Barrymore, Allyn Joslyn
Drama / Film-Noir
USA
English
2751
760
1919
Ernst Lubitsch
Victor Janson, Ossi Oswalda, Harry Liedtke, Julius Falkenstein
Comedy
Germany
German (Silent)
2751
760
1925
René Clair
Henri Rollan, Martinelli, Albert Préjean
Short / Sci-Fi / Fantasy / Comedy
France
French (Silent)
2751
760
1923
Robert Wiene
Gregori Chmara, Elisabeta Skulskaja, Alla Tarasova
Drama / Experimental
Germany
German (Silent)
2751
760
1936
Douglas Sirk
Willy Birgel, Lil Dagover, Maria von Tasnady
Music / Drama
Germany
German
2751
760
1944
Tex Avery
Wally Maher, Dick Nelson
Animation / Family / Comedy / Short
USA
English
2751
760
1933
Dave Fleischer
Budd Hulick, F. Chase Taylor
Animation / Comedy / Short / Music
USA
English
2751
760
1931
D.W. Griffith
Hal Skelly, Zita Johann, Charlotte Wynters, Evelyn Baldwin
Drama
USA
English
2751
760
1926
F.W. Murnau
Hermann Picha, Rosa Valetti, André Mattoni, Werner Krauss
Drama / Comedy / Period Film / Crime
Germany
German (Silent)
2751
760
1930
Yasujiro Ozu
Tokihiko Okada, Fuyuki Yamamoto, Emiko Yagumo, Mitsuko Ichimura
Drama / Crime / Thriller
Japan
Japanese (Silent)
2751
760
1949
Jules Dassin
Richard Conte, Valentina Cortese, Lee J. Cobb, Barbara Lawrence
Film-Noir / Thriller / Drama / Crime / Gangster
USA
English
2751
760
1943
Tex Avery
Robert Emmett O'Connor, Tex Avery, Billy Bletcher
Animation / Mystery / Comedy / Short
USA
English
2751
760
1947
Jean Renoir
Joan Bennett, Robert Ryan, Charles Bickford, Nan Leslie
Drama / Film-Noir / Romance
USA
English
2751
760
1938
Fritz Lang
Sylvia Sidney, George Raft, Barton MacLane, Harry Carey
Drama / Comedy / Crime / Romance
USA
English
2753
761
1933
Ernst Lubitsch
Fredric March, Gary Cooper, Miriam Hopkins, Edward Everett Horton, Jane Darwell
Comedy / Romance
USA
English
2758
763
1937
Ernst Lubitsch
Marlene Dietrich, Herbert Marshall, Melvyn Douglas
Drama / Comedy / Romance
USA
English
2759
764
1935
David Butler
Shirley Temple, Lionel Barrymore, Evelyn Venable
Family / Drama
USA
English
2759
764
1912
James Keane, André Calmettes
Robert Gemp, Frederick Warde, Albert Gardner, James Keane, George Moss
Drama / History / Biography / Epic
France / USA
English (Silent)
2761
765
1929
Mannus Franken, Joris Ivens
Documentary / Short / Experimental / History
Netherlands
Dutch (Silent)
2765
766
1945
Humphrey Jennings
Michael Redgrave, Myra Hess, John Gielgud, Frederick Allen, George Woodbridge
Documentary / Short
UK
English
2765
766
1929
Fridrikh Ermler
Emil Gal, Sergey Gerasimov, Yakov Gudkin, Ursula Krug, Varvara Myasnikova
Drama
Soviet Union
Russian (Silent)
2774
767
1937
Michal Waszynski
Avrom Morevski, Isaac Samberg, Moyshe Lipman, Lili Liliana, Leon Liebgold
Fantasy / Romance
Poland
Yiddish
2774
767
1912
D.W. Griffith
Dorothy Bernard, Wilfred Lucas, Edwin August, Christy Cabanne, William A. Carroll
Short / Drama / Crime / Thriller / Caper
USA
English (Silent)
2774
767
1923
Mauritz Stiller
Einar Hanson, Hugo Björne, Mary Johnson, Stina Berg, Pauline Brunius
Adventure / Drama / Romance
Sweden
Swedish (Silent)
2776
768
1949
Mehboob Khan
Nargis, Dilip Kumar, V.H. Desai, Cuckoo, Raj Kapoor
Musical / Drama / Crime / Romance
India
Hindi
2776
768
1949
Junli Zheng
Dan Zhao, Yinyan Wu, Daolin Sun, Yunzhu Shangguan
Drama
China
Mandarin
2776
768
1933
Yu Sun
Zhanfei Gao, Li-li Li, Juanjuan Ye, Congmei Yuan
Drama
China
Mandarin (Silent)
2776
768
1931
Gustav Machatý
Ladislav H. Struna, Magda Maderova, Jirina Sejbalová
Drama / Romance
Czechoslovakia / Austria
Czech
2776
768
1932
Oscar Micheaux
Grace Smith, Carl Mahon, Juano Hernandez, Bud Harris
Crime / Drama / Gangster
USA
English
2776
768
1937
Marcel Varnel
Will Hay, Martita Hunt, Peter Gawthorne, Graham Moffatt
Drama
UK
English
2776
768
1932
Aleksandr Medvedkin
Petr Zinovyev, Yelena Yegorova, L. Nenasheva
Comedy
Soviet Union
Russian (Silent)
2776
768
1943
Andrew L. Stone
Adolphe Menjou, Martha Scott, Pola Negri, Dennis O'Keefe
Comedy
USA
English
2776
768
1934
Yu Sun
Yan Jin, Yanyan Chen, Li-li Li, Ming Luo, Junili Zheng
Comedy / Musical / Drama / War
China
Mandarin
2776
768
1938
Marcel Carné
Annabella, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Louis Jouvet, Arletty
Drama
France
French
2776
768
1938
Abel Gance
Victor Francen, Line Noro, Marie Lou, Jean-Max
Drama / Horror / War
France
French
2776
768
1936
Sadao Yamanaka
Chojuro Kawarasaki, Utaemon Nakamura, Shizue Yamagishi
Drama
Japan
Japanese
2776
768
1916
Yevgeni Bauer
Vera Kholodnaya, Lydia Koreneva, Ivane Perestiani, Vitold Polonsky
Drama / Romance
Russia
Russian (Silent)
2776
768
1936
Sacha Guitry
Sacha Guitry, Gaston Dubosc, Serge Grave, Paul Bernard
Comedy
France
French
2776
768
1913
D.W. Griffith
Walter Miller, Lillian Gish, Kate Bruce, Viola Barry, Charles West
Short / Drama
USA
English (Silent)
2776
768
1949
Kenji Mizoguchi
Kinuyo Tanaka, Mitsuko Mito, Kuniko Miyake, Ichirô Sugai
Drama / Period Film
Japan
Japanese
2776
768
1949
Elmer Clifton, Ida Lupino
Sally Forrest, Keefe Brasselle, Leo Penn, Dorothy Adams
Drama
USA
English
2776
768
1912
D.W. Griffith
W. Chrystie Miller, Kate Bruce, Mary Pickford, Edwin August
Short / Drama
USA
English (Silent)
2776
768
1944
Veit Harlan
Carl Raddatz, Kristina Söderbaum, Irene von Meyendorff
Romance / Drama
Germany
German
2776
768
1935
Sadao Yamanaka
Denjirô Ôkôchi, Kiyozo, Kunitaro Sawamura
Comedy
Japan
Japanese
2776
768
1933
Phil Goldstone
Zita Johann, Paul Cavanagh, Alan Dinehart, Claire Du Brey
Crime / Drama
USA
English
2776
768
1937
Kenji Mizoguchi
Ichiro Sugai, Haruo Tanaka, Kumeko Urabe, Masao Shimizu
Drama / Romance
Japan
Japanese
2776
768
1924
Lupu Pick
Edith Posca, Eugen Klöpfer, Frieda Richard, Karl Harbacher
Drama
Germany
German (Silent)
NR
-
1943
Edward Sedgwick
Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Edgar Kennedy, Jacqueline White, Stephen McNally
Comedy
USA
English
NR
-
1939
Edward Buzzell
Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, Kenny Baker, Florence Rice
Comedy / Family / Musical
USA
English
NR
-
1941
Charles Reisner
Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, Tony Martin, Virginia Grey
Comedy / Musical / Family
USA
English
NR
-
1917
J. Gordon Edwards
Theda Bara, Fritz Leiber, Thurston Hall, Alan Roscoe, Herschel Mayall
Biography / Drama / History / Epic
USA
English (Silent)
NR
-
1940
Clarence Brown
Spencer Tracy, Rita Johnson, Lynne Overman, Charles Coburn, Gene Lockhart
Biography / Drama / Period Film
USA
English
NR
-
1940
Edward Buzzell
Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, John Carroll, Diana Lewis
Comedy / Musical / Western / Family
USA
English
NR
-
1926
Dick Smith
Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, Zeppo Marx, Jobyna Ralston
Comedy / Short / Family
USA
English (Silent)
NR
-
1934
Alfred E. Green, Phil Rosen
Barbara Stanwyck, Frank Morgan, Ricardo Cortez, Lyle Talbot, Phillip Reed
Drama / Romance
USA
English
NR
-
1943
Dave Fleischer, Dan Gordon, Isadore Sparber, Seymour Kneitel
Jack Mercer, Margie Hines, Dave Barry, William Pennell, Tedd Pierce, Gilbert Mack
Animation / Short / Musical / Family / Comedy / Fantasy / Comic / Documentary / Serial
USA
English
NR
-
1947
Curtis Bernhardt
Joan Crawford, Van Heflin, Raymond Massey, Geraldine Brooks, Stanley Ridges
Crime / Drama / Film-Noir / Thriller
USA
English
NR
-
1938
William A. Seiter
Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, Lucille Ball, Ann Miller, Frank Albertson
Comedy / Family
USA
English
NR
-
1941
W.S. Van Dyke
William Powell, Myrna Loy, Barry Nelson, Donna Reed, Sam Levene, Alan Baxter
Comedy / Romance / Drama / Mystery / Crime / Thriller / Detective / Gangster
USA
English
